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March 31- John Malone-backed Charter Communications Inc said it would buy Bright House Networks in a $10.4 billion deal as it expands its cable network after losing out to Comcast Corp in a fight for Time Warner Cable Inc.. Comcast's $45.2 billion offer for Time Warner Cable last year highlighted the changing landscape of the industry. "I think it is inevitable...

Nearly all truck tires have been built for a maximum sustained speed of 75 mph since the middle of last decade, when drivers across the vast majority of the U.S. were allowed to go no faster than 65 or 70 mph. But 14 states, mainly west of the Mississippi River, now have speed limits of 75, 80, even 85 mph in part of Texas. Here is a look at the top speed limits for cars in...

OMAHA, Neb.— Warren Buffett's company has added two small Virginia newspapers to its collection of more than two dozen small and medium-sized newspapers. Berkshire Hathaway Media Group said Tuesday that it had acquired The Martinsville Bulletin in Martinsville and the Franklin News-Post in Rocky Mount from Haskell Newspapers. Berkshire Hathaway owns 31...

March 31- Cable television operator Charter Communications Inc said it would buy privately held Bright House Networks in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $10.4 billion to expand in Florida. Bright House has about 2 million video customers in central Florida, including Orlando and Tampa Bay as well as Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California.

Last year, Comcast said it was buying Time Warner Cable for $45 billion, and AT&T is purchasing DirecTV for $48.5 billion. Comcast says it works cooperatively with online video companies like Netflix and that content providers, not distributors like itself, currently have bargaining advantages. Charter buying Bright House, which hinges on regulators...

March 31- Cable television operator Charter Communications Inc said it would buy Bright House Networks in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $10.4 billion to expand in Florida. Charter's shares rose 9 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday after Reuters reported the deal earlier in the day. Bright House, controlled by the Newhouse family, has about 2 million...

NEW ORLEANS— With a hearing scheduled to decide how much money thousands of people are owed for Chinese drywall damage to their homes, the manufacturer has made payments required to participate, including $3.2 million to seven homeowners in Virginia. The April 28 hearing will determine damages to as many as 4,000 homes built or repaired in Virginia, Florida,...

The SEC said Tilton and the firms have misled investors since 2003 and wrongly collected nearly $200 million in fees and other payments. The case will be heard before an administrative law judge at the SEC. The SEC action against Tilton represents an example of government regulators enforcing the fiduciary standard for investment advisers.

*Measure spares doctors 21 percent pay cut if passes Senate vote. WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK, March 26- The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill to permanently repair the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, marking a rare bipartisan achievement and sending the issue next to the Senate. The measure drafted and driven...

WASHINGTON/ BIRMINGHAM, March 26- A U.S. consumer financial watchdog on Thursday outlined plans to crack down on payday lending practices that leave borrowers with debt they cannot repay, and President Barack Obama touted the move as a contrast with Republican polices. Obama told an audience at a community college in Birmingham, Alabama, that the U.S. Consumer...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Embracing proposed new rules aimed at payday lenders, President Barack Obama on Thursday said working families need protections from heavy debt burdens and warned Republicans that he would veto attempts to unravel regulations that govern the financial industry. Obama praised the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its proposal to...

The investigation led by the Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement resulted in 252 enforcement actions and $2.6 million in consumer refunds and fees. Officials say the more recent investigation in U.S. and Canada involved the Justice Department and state prosecutors. "The clear message is that across this country, and indeed internationally, law...

WASHINGTON, March 26- The U.S. consumer financial watchdog on Thursday outlined its plans for cracking down on the payday lending industry and ensuring that borrowers can repay their loans. The framework unveiled by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was a key step toward new rules for various types of loans that regulators say trap borrowers in...

WASHINGTON— Each month, more than 200,000 needy U.S. households take out what's advertised as a brief loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules Thursday to protect Americans from stumbling into what it calls a "debt trap." "The idea is pretty common sense: If you lend out money, you should first make sure that the borrower can afford to pay it back,"...

The 228-199 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a conservative budget that relies on nearly $5 trillion in cuts to eliminate deficits over the next decade, calls for repealing the health care law and envisions transformations of the tax code and Medicare. Republicans— Aderholt, Y; Brooks, Y; Byrne, Y; Palmer, Y; Roby, Y; Rogers, Y. Republicans— Crawford, N; Hill, Y;...

DETROIT, March 25- The United Auto Workers union on Wednesday said getting raises for workers at the Detroit automakers will be a top priority in contract talks this summer, but more jobs and production are shifting to U.S. plants without unions and Mexico. Earlier this week, General Motors Co said it would build a factory in Mexico to assemble a new generation of...

WASHINGTON, March 24- With defense and deficit hawks still eyeing each other warily over the federal budget, House Republican leaders predicted on Tuesday that their fractious caucus would close ranks and support a 10- year balanced-budget plan. Beginning on Wednesday, the House of Representatives was expected to begin voting on a range of differing budget...

WASHINGTON, March 24- With defense and deficit hawks still eyeing each other warily over the federal budget, House Republican leaders predicted on Tuesday that their fractious caucus would close ranks and support a 10- year balanced-budget plan. Beginning on Wednesday, the House of Representatives was expected to begin voting on a range of differing budget...

A 3- ounce cup of ice cream contaminated with listeriosis was traced to a plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blue Bell spokesman Gene Grabowski said. The production line in Broken Arrow that makes the flavors has been stopped, but work continues in other parts of that plant. Francis hospital in Wichita, Kansas, became ill with listeriosis while hospitalized at some...

DETROIT, March 23- General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co have much higher labor costs than their cross-town rival Fiat Chrysler, according to a new study released just ahead of a meeting of United Auto Workers officials as they prepare for contract talks with the Detroit Three. Ford Motor Co's hourly labor costs were $57, just behind GM's at $58.